Amazing Race's Caitlin and Brittany: We Still Don't Understand How We Got So Lostby Joyce Eng

For once, there was no editing trickery at work for The Amazing Race's tight finish Sunday. After getting lost while Gary and Will, who were U-Turned, performed both Detours, Caitlin and Brittany appeared to be headed for safety when they finally got to the clue first. But they wound up behind Gary and Will, and when they passed them on the road, their pedicabs went in two different directions at an intersection. "After we forked and went left, we knew we went the wrong way. We were like, 'This is not good,'" Caitlin tells TVGuide.com. "First of all, it took [our cabbie] forever to turn around. A miracle would've had to happen for us to get in front of them at that point." So how did they get so lost? What part of their pedicab drama wasn't shown? Find out below.

That was a crazy finish. What was it like watching it?Brittany: It was frustrating, of course. What they showed was a little different than what actually went on. America just saw one side of us and I think they didn't really see the type of girls we are at all. It was definitely heartbreaking. When you're tough competitors and you hate losing, you never want to see yourself go home before a team that you think you're better than.Caitlin: Yeah, it was hard. ... We didn't know how everything was going to be edited, but that's the chance you take signing up for something like this. We definitely don't regret it. We loved doing it even though you didn't get to see our whole personalities. It is what it is.

What wasn't shown?Brittany: We actually left the lion's head Detour first and our cab driver had taken us to the Pit Stop by accident. He took us on a different route and we didn't pass the U-Turn mat, so we showed up at the Pit Stop and we think that's where the U-Turn is. But we see Phil and we're like, "Oh my gosh! Go back!" That's when you saw us go to that field where [Gary and Will] were doing [the egg Detour]. If our guy had actually taken us the correct route, we would've checked in sixth that day. But [we wound up] being neck-and-neck with Gary and Will. It was close, but our driver actually messed up and had taken us to the Pit Stop, like, 30 minutes prior. That's the frustrating thing.Caitlin: Yeah, and altogether we lost a lot of time. We didn't keep track, but obviously [it was] a lot. We probably spent about 15 minutes in the park [while Gary and Will were doing the egg Detour]. We saw them.

How did he know to take you there? Did he drop someone else off before you guys?Caitlin: Yeah, I think he might have. Maybe someone from the first train.Brittany: Maybe he thought he was doing us a favor taking us there? [Laughs] I don't know. On the clue, it said to head to the Parliament and to stop at that cross street. The cross street was where the U-Turn was, so if our guy had gone that way, we wouldn't have gone straight to the Pit Stop first.

Did you change cabs more than just the one time that was shown?Caitlin: No. It was just that one time. At that point, too much time had passed and we were just like, "We're going to have to go with it." It's one of those choices you have to make.Brittany: When we were leaving the Pit Stop the first time, we got back into the same cab because we thought he could bring us back to the Detour where we started. Instead, he got us lost and we had to get into another one.

Before you changed pedicabs, there was a shot of you guys right in front of the U-Turn box, but you didn't see it. (Watch it here at 34:40.)Brittany: I'm not sure what you're referring to, but that could be when we headed back after going to the Pit Stop. We did eventually see the U-Turn mat, but he had taken us past it, so we told him to stop. That's when we switched drivers, ran to the U-Turn and got back to our original driver. We figured since he had taken us to the Pit Stop, he'd know where he was going.

But you ended up behind Gary and Will.Caitlin: Exactly! [Laughs] That's what we still don't understand.Brittany: Right. He had just taken us there, so how do you get lost? All of the sudden, we ended up right behind Will and Gary, and it's like, "How the hell are they even ahead of us?"

You wanted to pass them and you did, but did you ever consider following them and trying to beat them in a footrace to the Pit Stop?Caitlin: Where we got dropped off, we were probably 20 meters from the Pit Stop. It really didn't matter. We needed to get to get in front of them in our pedicab. We would've had them in a footrace, but it wasn't a far enough distance to let ourselves stay behind them. And you don't know if they would go faster and we would get left behind somehow. We couldn't take that chance.Brittany: They made it seem on TV that it was 100 yards away; it wasn't.Caitlin: And you have to run with your backpacks, and our backpacks were really heavy.

So you knew you went the wrong way when you went left at the intersection?Brittany: Yeah. I think that was the hardest part and why we were so frustrated. We weren't being disrespectful by any means. I want people to know that. There was so much that went on. We had been calm and hadn't been frustrated on the Race up until then, but when they had cost us so much time and we were fighting for last place, and it was because of their error, it's hard to sit there and twiddle my thumbs and not get upset. The reason we got upset is because we're competitive and we didn't like losing and we knew we were a better team. I think America saw us as aggressive and rude, but we're not. That moment just brought out the worst in us and that's just the part they showed.

How do you feel about Gary and Will being safe for the second straight leg because another team had bad cabbie luck?Caitlin: [Laughs] I kind of just laugh about it. It's just one of those things. You don't know what's going to happen in the Race.

What are you up to now?Caitlin: I just moved to Atlanta about a month ago, so I'm settling in a new town and it's been exciting and fun starting a new chapter in my life and watching the Race. ... From here on out, I'm still obviously going to tune in and cheer for everybody. We're friends with these people and will be for a long time. It's just cool to see your friends competing.Brittany: I'm still in Chicago. I just took a job at a new company doing pharmaceutical sales. I've moved to a new place, so I've been busy with that and just watching the Race.

The best friends had some bad luck with multiple bedak drivers in Indonesia, leading to their elimination in Sunday night's episode.

For the second episode in a row, public transportation led to the downfall of an Amazing Race team.our editor recommends

On the heels of last week's taxi debacle that saw the elimination of Amy Purdy and Daniel Gale, best friends Caitlin King, 24, and Brittany Fletcher, 25, suffered a similar fate in this week's episode. The pair was in a dead heat with the team of Gary Wojnar and Will Chiola -- who had just been forced to do U-turn requiring them to spend precious time in another detour challenge -- when their Indonesian bedak driver took a wrong turn at a fork in the road, and they came in last place, resulting in their elimination. This came after they previously had language issues trying to pay another bedak driver.

Throughout the episode, the teams were tasked with serving multiple trays of padang food at once without dropping them and choosing between having eggs cooked over a fire burning in a coconut on their head or wearing a 40-pound lion's head mask while performing ceremonial dance moves in a Javanese parade.

On Monday, Caitlin and Brittany talked to The Hollywood Reporter about their elimination, their close finish and their transportation woes.

The Hollywood Reporter: So did it all really come down to that one wrong turn?Caitlin King: I think for us, there were a few things we made mistakes on.

Brittany Fletcher: What America didn't see was that when we left the detour, our driver took us straight to [the location of the mat they were supposed to finish the leg, where host Phil Keoghan was waiting], so we actually did not pass the U-turn. We showed up at the pit stop where Phil was and said we gotta go find the U-turn. ... So we got over there and saw the guy that had taken us to the pit stop previously and thought, this guy knows where to go. All of a sudden, we see Will and Gary, so we go past them and figure, there's no problem because he knew to stay to the right because he had just taken us there. ... The bottom line is, if he had just taken us on the same route as before [we wouldn't have been eliminated], but he completely took on us a different route.

THR: Did you know when you reached the mat where Phil was waiting that you were in last place?Brittany: Yeah, we knew it was down to Will and Gary and especially when we were passing them that it was between us two. But we had enough confidence to pass them because the guy had just taken us there. I have no idea what he was doing.

Caitlin: At that point, we were just so mentally and physically drained and exhausted. We were obviously disappointed. We knew we were one of the strongest teams and we definitely could have gone farther. At the end of the day, we were just excited and fortunate to be on the show in the first place. We made great friends, and that's all that mattered.

THR: You also had trouble with another bedak driver over money. [The two were seen getting extremely upset as they were unable to get an answer from him about how much money he was owed for the ride.] What happened there?Brittany: Basically, [the editing] made it seem like I was just yelling at the guy, but we had been standing there for 15 minutes, and we had passed the monster truckers [Rob French and Kelley Carrington-French] and obviously we saw Will and Gary get out and they had already started the challenge. And we were standing there and the driver was not telling us how much to pay, and we didn't want to pay the wrong amount, but it was ridiculous for all the teams to pass us. Everyone [other bedak drivers were also standing there] was yelling out different amounts. It was frustrating. It made it seem like I just blew upon the guy, but we had been standing there for 15 minutes.

Caitlin: We were trying to negotiate with him, and obviously it was not going anywhere. It's not fair for anyone to judge what we were going through at that point; it was the head of the moment.

Brittany: He just stared at us, gave us a hand gesture or something. At one point he said it was free. We're like, what? It's not free; tell us how much we owe you. I don't know how everybody else had it so easy. Our driver stared at us for 15 minutes, literally.

THR: How hard was it to carry all those plates of food without dropping them?Brittany: I was so proud of myself.

Caitlin: Brittany did awesome.

Brittany: I've never served before.

Caitlin: You couldn't even tell, but she did it quick -- in and out of there in five minutes.

Brittany: It was hard, definitely challenging. But I knew for us to get ahead, I had to knock it out quick; I had to step it up and do what I needed to do.

THR: What about the task involving the lion's masks? Was that as hard as it looked?Caitlin: The thing with that was, you could only see a centimeter in front of you. And the mask weighed so much; you were holding it up with your teeth. At the same time, Brittany was behind me and I didn't know what she was doing. Every time I turned around with the mask on, it almost fell off, and if it fell off you had to start over.

Brittany: It was probably a mile that the parade went on.

THR: Do you have any particular team you are rooting for?Caitlin: I think we made really good friends with a lot of them ... we're rooting for everybody.

THR: Why did you try out for the show?Brittany: Basically, this and going on The Price Is Right are two things I always wanted to accomplish. For Amazing Race, I knew there was nobody else I wanted to partner up with than Caitlin. I knew we were going to be able to count on one another in the difficult time. I went after it and it was one of the things I knew I would not stop until I got on the show. It was on my bucket list, and at the same time, we are huge fans.

Amazing Race bid adieu to one of the most venerable female teams to attempt the race in recent years, college athletes and best friends Brittany Fletcher and Caitlin King, on Sunday night. ETonline catches up with the tough cookies to get their take on their elimination.

ETOnline: You guys are the second team in a row to be eliminated based on a driver not knowing where to go. How frustrating was that for you?Brittany: Basically, the most frustrating thing was -- obviously you saw how we got feisty -- [what] America didn't really see was we were actually in sixth leaving the detour and we had gotten a becak (bicycle cab) driver and he had actually taken us on a different route to the pit stop. He didn't actually take the path ... that we were telling him to take us to so we could have got the U-turn map. So, basically he takes us all the way to the pit stop, we're like, 'Oh, crap,' we get back in his becak, he takes us to the field, and we're running around looking for this U-turn map, but we can't find it. Then we think, maybe he took us on a different route, so we took another becak thing, he ends up passing the U-turn map, we see it in the rear-view, we were looking behind us and noticed it, so we get out of the becak, run to the U-turn map. Then our driver, who had just taken us to the pit stop prior, was there at the same time as well, right around the U-turn map, so that's when we were like, ‘Okay, he's somebody who actually knows where he's going, we've got to get there. It's now between us and Will and Gary.” We jumped in his thinking he would be the safe bet and knew where he was going. It turns out, he didn't.

ETOnline: Throughout the episode, you were pretty direct with the cab drivers, raising your voice at times. Do you regret doing that? Or was it the situation that drove you to that?Brittany: The thing is, we were fine with the cab drivers at first. America only saw, when it got down to the wire of the moment where we had no choice -- we were down to the wire. So, [there were] scenes where it looks like I was just being disrespectful, and very forceful against these becak drivers, and I wasn't. They had not shown the probably two-and-a-half hours prior with these guys. The first part they showed [when we were talking about the fare], we had been sitting there for fifteen minutes, actually Will and Gary ended up showing up and passing us, and starting the challenge, because we were still trying to figure out, how much to owe and you saw that they had gotten off the train last, so it just kinda goes to show you how long we had been standing there and for him not to give us an amount to pay… they showed the last part of the fifteen minutes of course, it wasn't like that the entire time.

ETOnline: Was it that he just didn't understand what you were asking, or was he just trying to get more money out of you guys?Caitlin: It was just very confusing because we were literally just standing there. We didn't even know what to do at that point because he was just literally staring at us, not even giving us any hand motions or letting us know he understood anything we were saying. It was just really, really frustrating. But yeah, it was a money thing, it was just... it was everything.

Brittany: And then these people shouting all around, telling us different amounts. We're like -- stop yelling guys, we're asking this person specifically. We're not trying to cheat him out of money or anything, we just wanna pay him correctly so we're not penalized later on.

ETOnline: You were frustrated that the driver of the little bike thing didn't speak any English. Did you expect people to speak more English as you went around the world? Or was it about what you expected?Caitlin: The one line that everyone is talking... and actually what I had said was, 'It's so frustrating not being able to communicate with these drivers, I really can't believe they don't speak English. These drivers don't speak English.' So the part that was only shown was, 'I can't believe these drivers don't speak English,' when really, like hello, we're in foreign countries. Obviously they're not gonna all speak English, that's just kinda common sense. I think what was so frustrating is we were in the heat of the moment, and these guys had been getting us lost, you know had taken us to the pit stop. For us to have been in a situation where the driver had already taken us to the pit stop, and then ends up going left instead of right, when you figured he knew where he was going, ‘cause we had just went there. So, yeah, it caused us to look like we were crazy yelling at these drivers, but I mean they had wasted almost two-and-a-half hours of our time, it was insane.

ETOnline: What was the most challenging aspect of the race overall?Caitlin: We knew going into the race, that we only had control over a few things and that we would be in good shape and we knew we were mentally tough. Other than that, you don't know what's gonna happen, you really don't realize how much you're on your feet, and our backpacks are just so heavy, and at the end of the day, you just had to really stay mentally tough because you're running on no sleep. We knew that's what we were gonna be doing, but you really don't know how much you can live on until you're actually in it.

ETOnline: And everyone was commenting on the heat in China, it was probably equally hot in Indonesia, right?Caitlin: Oh, yes. It was so hot and we had to wear long sleeves and longer pants because of religious and cultural reasons. We were burning up.

Brittany: For both of us, obviously it was gonna be hard. When you're in a situation, you don't have a phone, you're trying to rely on communicating with people. We both have traveled to places throughout the world, and we've always kind of gotten away with finding either a cab driver, or somebody that spoke even a little bit of English. I think sometimes when you're in a situation that you can't communicate, that was eye-opening because you can't do anything about it. These people have no idea what you're saying, and it's really out of your control trying to communicate with them. So I think that was part of it, that was hard, and definitely the currency I think too. When you're transferring from American to yuan, I think that's what it was, yeah yuan to rupiah, you don't know how much you have left of those currencies, how much the equivalent it is from a U.S. dollar to a rupiah. You don't really know how much the value is. That was of course hard and—are we getting ripped off? 'Cause they know that we don't know, or is this really how much it costs?

ETOnline: Which task would you say was the hardest?Caitlin: For me, the hardest thing was definitely the balloons. I just was struggling with that.

Brittany: It's hard to [do] ‘cause like, you're sweating, it's so hot, and trying to grip it was so like…

Caitlin: And my bike was too small for me, but I had chosen it, and I couldn't switch bikes. So my knees were like hitting, banging the metal thing in front of me the whole time so that wasn't very fun.

ETOnline: How long did it take to do that task? Hours?Caitlin: I don't even know. I don't think it was that long.

Brittany: Like forty-five minutes.

ETOnline: What would you say is the most interesting thing you learned about other cultures from being on the race?Brittany: Being able to experience other cultures, it makes you appreciate how blessed we are, even just the little things, just even having a shower. So you know it's one of those things to be able to experience those different cultures and participate in their living style was such a blessing because you really need to be able to interact with different cultures. It definitely was eye awakening, and we are very thankful and blessed to have been a part of it.

ETOnline: What team do you think is gonna win?Caitlin: There are a few teams going into it that we kind of knew were the stronger teams to begin with. We're friends with all the teams, so we're pulling for mostly everyone. But I'd say we would really like to see another girls team go far, maybe the Sri Lankans, or… both of us really loved Amy and Daniel, hated to see them go. And then the rockers, they're smart, savvy, and street smart and we think they'll go a long way. And we were also good friends with the Chippendales, so really we don't have one team pegged that we definitely want to win. But that's the good thing, it's gonna be fun to see the other teams and just continue to watch our friends compete.

The Amazing Race's 21st cycle kicked off only three weeks ago, and it's already fair to say that the competition is fierce. Traveling first to Beijing before heading to Indonesia, the teams have been faced with numerous challenges, and no-one was safe. Unfortunately for best friends Caitlin King and Brittany Fletcher, they fell behind this week after being transported by a driver who didn't quite know where he was going. The mistake cost them valuable time, and saw them check in at the pit stop last, where Phil revealed they would be heading home from the competition.

Caitlin & Brittany spoke to reporters on Monday about their experience in the game and where it all went wrong.

How tough was it to go out the way you did?Brittany: "It's obviously hard being eliminated - that's something you never want to happen, especially as competitive as Caitlin and I are. The most frustrating thing is that we were in sixth when we left the detour but we had an error and the driver took us on a different path and it cost us everything. The guy went left at the fork in the road, so it's someone we were relying on and he could have taken us to the pit stop 45 minutes prior. It was really frustrating."

Did you ever find out how much the rickshaw ride was? You got pretty frustrated when trying to talk to the driver!Brittany: "They'd only shown a small part of it. We'd been standing there about 15 minutes trying to pay the driver and he wasn't giving us any feedback. He was kind of just staring at us. There were people all around, the locals, telling us how much it was and we were asking different people. By that point, Gary and Will had caught up doing the second part of the challenge. When you're in the heat of the moment and you gotta go because there are only three teams, I think it came across as me yelling at the driver but we'd been standing there for 15 minutes asking in a respectful, nice way and you get frustrated when you have stuff to do. I don't think it was in any way me trying to come across as arrogant, we just had to leave!"

What was the biggest challenge for you in the competition?Caitlin: "For me, it was definitely the balloon challenge. It was so hot and we had to wear long sleeves for religious and cultural reasons. I was on fire trying to do that task and the bike was too small for me so my knees kept hitting the front of the merry-go-round thing. In general, the hardest for us was just that it was mentally draining throughout the whole thing. You don't realize that until you're actually racing. And also having to experience the language barriers - it's something you know you'll come in contact with, but we didn't realize it was going to be as challenging as it ended up being."

On the other end of the spectrum, what was the best part of the experience?Brittany: "Being able to experience all the different cultures makes you know how blessed you really are. Even the small things like taking a shower! Being able to experience those cultures and travel the world and meet the type of people we did was great. We made friends for life and it's one of those experiences you'll always look back and be grateful to have been a part of."

Have you kept in touch with any of your fellow competitors?Caitlin: "We became friends with a ton of teams. Amy and Daniel we were always close with. We were friends with the Sri Lankan twins, the Chippendales... all of us. We were all really close, but obviously it was easier for us to relate to the younger teams. We all plan on keeping in touch and meeting up at some point in the future."

What did you do to prepare for joining the race?Caitlin: "We're both really competitive and into sports so we knew we could count on each other to stay in shape and just, you know, be ready physically. That's the one thing we felt we had control over, so we'd always be on each other to do workout plans. Also, Brittany is really good with coming up with different strategies and she came up with one to do some team building skills. We kind of just prepared as much as we could, but you really can't prepare for the things you actually do on the race."

Would you change anything if you had to repeat the experience?Brittany: "There's nothing we would change that we did. Every challenge we did, we did the best that we could. Even the third leg, I knew that in order for us to stay in the competition, I had to stand up and represent Caitlin and I and take on that roadblock. I did it in five minutes and it kind of worked out. We got to the train station a bit late but we were neck and neck for a while. We controlled what we could and at the same time it just came down to the cab driver. I wish America could see we were more respectful of the cultures we were in, it just came down to the editing. When you're in the heat of the moment, it brings out a different side of you - we were there to compete and keep moving, not twiddle our thumbs."

What's next for you?Caitlin: "I just moved from St Louis to Atlanta so I'm kind of excited to start a new chapter in my life. It's good to be back in the south because I have a bunch of friends here. It's exciting."

Brittany: "I'm still in Chicago and just started a job with a pharmaceutical company. Plus, I just moved to a new place down the street, so I'm just looking forward to seeing what's next and I'm proud of Caitlin and I, because we're a strong team."

In 21 seasons of The Amazing Race, we've seen time and time again how a lost cab driver can derail a team and cost them a shot at the million dollar grand prize. This week, in Indonesia, Caitlin and Brittany were at the mercy of a pedicab driver who was unsure of where he was going. They fell to the bottom of the pack and it came down to a close race with Gary and Will, but the girls took yet another wrong turn and arrived at the mat last. We talked to them today in an exclusive interview about their partnership in the race, the teams they were working with, and how they feel about their elimination.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Why did you want to audition for The Amazing Race and did you have any fears or worries going in?A. Brittany: It was one of those things where I always had it on my bucket list. I wanted to do this and The Price Is Right! Caitlin and I are so competitive and it was one of those things where I knew she'd be the perfect partner. We definitely did not have any fears. If you're fearful or doubtful, why are you here? Who knows what you're going to do next on this race?

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What makes the two of you such a good team?A. Caitlin: I think both of us are just very competitive, we come from sports backgrounds. With Brittany, she's in medical sales so she's always on her feet and is outspoken. She likes to make quick decisions. I'm kind of more laid back and go with the flow. In hectic situations, I can try to maybe calm her down and she can pep me up when I need to get going. It's a good mix but we know each other so well, so we never let it get to the point where we were mentally breaking each other down.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Heading to China for the first leg of the race must have been pretty intense. What was it like for you?A. Caitlin: Yeah, the first leg, I think we were immediately having to run and do a ton on our feet after what was a 17 hour flight. We were just happy at that point that we had been training for it and been running. You really don't realize how heavy your backpacks become when you have it on for that long. Shanghai was a really big challenge right away. We got lucky that we were able to get to the places and not get lost in the first leg.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which teams stood out to you as a threat in the very beginning and who were you working with along the way?A. Brittany: I think going into it, you really don't know because you're not able to talk to teams until the start. The Chippendales, they're a guy team, they're built, and they're two guys we thought were competition. We knew the rockers were street smart, book smart, and would play the game well. Then, you have Abbie and Ryan and the twins. Amy and Daniel were a great team. We worked well with the Chippendales right from the beginning, along with the twins, Amy and Daniel, and Abbie and Ryan.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: During this week's leg of the race, how long were you going around looking for the U-Turn?A. Brittany: Basically, at the end, what had happened before was that we were the sixth team and did the Detour. They showed us competing with Will and Gary at the end. They tried to make it look more suspenseful. We had left and the driver took us on a different route. We were not even able to see the U-Turn. Our driver passed it again and we saw it over our shoulder and told them to stop.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was it tough that your elimination came from something that was out of your control in some ways?A. Caitlin: Yeah, I mean, that was frustrating for us but then after it was all done and over with, we were talking about it. For us, if we weren't able to complete a challenge or something physically, I think that would've probably weighed on us a little more. That's what we always knew going in, was that we weren't scared of any challenges. It was annoying that it was out of control but I'd rather have that than not be able to finish a task.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did being on The Amazing Race inspire you to want to travel more?A. Brittany: I mean, of course, being able to travel the world and see every country as we did and be able to do the tasks and challenges and experience different cultures is something we were blessed to be a part of. We'd love to travel the rest of our lives but The Amazing Race encouraged us to always keep going and never give up.

Gordon Beckham has signed up for an Amazing Race to the alter. (Getty Images)

Welcome to the CBS family, Gordon Beckham.

The Chicago White Sox second baseman took to Twitter on Thursday to announce he'd gotten engaged:

The connection to CBS? Future wife Brittany Fletcher was a contestant on this past season of The Amazing Race, teaming with best friend Caitlin King. Spoiler Alert: Fletcher and King were eliminated in the third episode, while Beckham hit just .234 in 2012. Regardless, it should go down as a good year for both (plus Beckham is arbitration-eligible for the first time, so he should get a raise in 2013). Congrats, kids.

Such wonderful news! Gordan is a delightful man and had MANY kind words to say about RFF at TARcon. They make a charming couple and I know you all join me in wishing the two of them every happiness! Love to Brittany and Gordan!

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